This Oklahoma City singer and slide guitarist is at the creative apex of traditional blues. He took the roundabout route to get there--fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, officiating at funerals, and working as a trucker, forklift operator, saw miller, firewood salesman, and collection agent until a near-fatal heart attack compelled him to find his calling as a bandleader in 2002. Slim's fourth album since then is even sharper than 2006's critically heralded breakthrough Watermelon Slim & the Workers. It's a devil's playground for his weathered-oak voice and Delta-fueled six-stringing, full of stories of crime ("The Wheel Man"), lust ("Peaches"), and sin ("Jimmy Bell"). For Slim, that's par for the course, but this time he's drafted Chicago blues stalwart Magic Slim for a terse, burnished solo and vocal turns on the title tune and piano great David Maxwell to make three other numbers sparkle and jump. Yet some of the most compelling songs, like the howling a cappella "Jimmy Bell" and the slide 'n' vocal turn "Judge Harsh Blues" are Watermelon Slim alone. And that's enough. His sound and his soul are packed with true, natural grit. --Ted Drozdowski
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